Kaijudo: Guardians of the Realms
by CMR Rosa
Summary: Two realms. Two Veils. Two forces that guard them, almost untouched by each other, until now that is. Join two group of young warriors as they unite to fight their enemies on both worlds to save their one home.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own W.I.T.C.H. or Kaijudo, this story is for fun**

**Author Note: Hey everybody CMR Rosa here again to bring you this new story. I got the idea for this story one night watch W.I.T.C.H. on YouTube when I though what if I made a W.I.T.C.H. crossover with Kaijudo and this story was born. First I like to thank HeartofMeridian for helping me write the first chapter, chaotic9 for helping me think of a great summary for this story and finally Kris. Warrior of Death for ****agreeing to co write this story with me, now on to the story.**

Chapter 1

Will could feel the sweat running down her face as she sprinted through the forest. The light from the flames danced on her cheeks while the heat pierced her to the core. Her mind raced as she tried to make sense of the scene around her. She tried to count up her friends, both the ones still standing and the ones who lay on the ground, but she found it hard to take her eyes away from the grotesque shape silhouetted against the spreading flames. It was all too much for her, and she was trying to fight down the fear when a friendly voice snapped her back to reality.

"Hey Will, we could use your help over here!" Ray said, waving her over.

Will took a deep breath and clutched the glowing pink jewel tightly. Will had only met Ray recently, and didn't know too much about him, but she knew this. He hadn't been lying when he said things would be exciting.

Three Weeks Earlier

Will hated the rain. She hated the way it penetrated her skin and soaked her to the core, and she hated the way it chilled her as she stepped out of her mother's warm car. The rain, as if sensing her feelings and repaying her in kind, hit her like a wall of ice, pounding away at whatever hope she had left that this was going to be a good day.

"Now you have a good time at school honey." Her mother said, leaning over from the driver's seat, but being careful not to get wet, "I put an extra batch of cookies in your lunch to help you make friends!"

"Yeah, that'll make me popular." Will mumbled as she watched the car drive off.

Will turned away from the now empty road and faced her new school for the first time. Will was told that in the sun, the Sheffield Institute was a beautiful old building that more closely resembled a castle then a school. In the rain however, it towered over Will like an intimidating cage. Still, Will tried to keep positive. She put a smile on her face, and was determined to have a better second day then her first. She stayed like this right up until a wall of cold water drenched her from behind, at which point the smile disappeared, replaced by a look of contempt for the world and everything in it.

"Need a hand?" asked a voice from behind.

Will spun to find a boy her age standing behind her, arms raised in a sign of assistance. Will gave the boy little more then a quick glance, noticing his mixed decent and red streak in an otherwise dark mop of hair.

"Sorry, couldn't help but notice you were on the wrong end of a puddle." the boy said. "I can take your bag if you want to dry off."

"How would that help me dry off?" Will said, having thought about it for a second.

The boy also thought about this, then shrugged.

"Couldn't hurt." He said, arm still outstretched.

"How about we just focus on getting inside." Will replied with a smile, keeping the back on her shoulders.

The two sprinted through the downpour, bursting through the front doors just in time to hear the first bell ring.

"So I've never seen you around before…" Ray said once he was content he was dry.

"Second day." Will admitted. "My mom got a job in Heatherfield, so we packed everything up and got a fresh start."

"I bet you'll love it here." Ray said with a wink. "The people are really special, and it seems there's almost always something exciting going on in Heatherfield."

"Hmmm, I've never been much for excitement." Will said, starting to head to her first class. "But it's good to know the people are nice."

"Well, if you want to meet them, look for me in the caf at lunch." Ray said with a wave. "I'll introduce you to the gang."

Will headed to her first class with a much lighter heart then she had had earlier. It had only taken her minutes for her to meet someone, and he did seem nice. Her first class was history with professor Collins, but Will managed to avoid any incidences by keeping her head down and her mouth shut. For her first couple of days, all she wanted to do was stay out of trouble and not have any surprises, and so far she was doing well.

Her streak of luck ended when she went to her lockers between classes. As she opened her locker up, she watched a small piece of paper fall to the floor at her feet. Cautiously, she bent over and picked it up, looking around to see if anyone was watching. Assured that no one was, she opened up the note and read it.

HI WILL! YOU DON'T KNOW ME, BUT MY NAME IS HAY LIN. I HEARD YOU'RE NEW HERE, AND WAS WONDERING IF YOU WANTED TO HANG OUT WITH MY FRIENDS AND ME AT LUNCH. JUST LOOK FOR THE POPULAR TABLE, WE'RE RIGHT NEXT TO THAT ONE. :)

Will read the note with a smile, which quickly transitioned into a thoughtful frown. So much for not making friends, she thought. It was still an hour before lunch and she had already had two invitations. But who was Hay Lin? She had never heard that name before. At least she had met Ray, but Hay Lin and her group of friends were complete strangers. As she walked to her next class, Will's mind went over the possibilities, keeping her distracted throughout the entirety of her math lecture.

As it turned out, Will had little to worry about. As she entered the cafeteria with a tray of food in hand, she spied Ray sitting at a table with two girls and one large boy. Ray waved Will over, and the young girl pulled up a chair.

"Hey Will!" Ray said once Will had been seated. "Glad you could join us. Meet some of my friends. This is…"

"Hay Lin." Finished the girl sitting across from Will. "Nice to finally meet you in person Will."

"Uh, yeah." Will replied cautiously. "Not that I don't appreciate the invitation, but how did you know me?"

"Oh, I just saw you around." Hay Lin replied, bashfully chewing on her fork. "Thought it might be nice to get to know you. Not really sure why, actually. Just a feeling."

As introductions continued, Will meet Taranee, and Cornelia and learned that the boy was named Gabe. Will smiled at each of them, relieved that they all seemed nice. Suddenly, a brown hair whirlwind sat down beside Will with a smile and a thump. A quick check of the girls knapsack told Will that this blur was called Irma.

"So," Irma said, "are we doing the thing where Taranee stares at Ray and Ray pretends he doesn't notice?"

"What?" Ray said.

"What?" Taranee said.

"What?" Irma said, mouth now full of sandwich.

"How is it even possible you have this much energy?" Cornelia asked, Taking the attention away from the blushing Taranee and Ray.

"Good eating." Irma said, unwrapping her cookie. "Keeps me full of energy. You should try it some time."

"What, having energy?" Cornelia asked.

"No, eating." Irma said with a smile, poking Cornelia's flat stomach.

Will smiled, but kept quiet. It was nice of Hay Lin and Ray to invite her to their group, but they obviously had a dynamic already in place. But she did notice one empty chair between her and Ray, and was wondering who filled it when another blonde girl appeared out of the corner of her eye.

"Hello friends." the girl said, standing tall over the table. "Hello Cornelia."

"Allie." Cornelia replied through gritted teeth.

"Hey Allie." Irma said with a wave. "Grab a seat and sit down."

"I don't know Irma," Cornelia said, "I think our personalities might clash."

"Maybe then your personality will match your outfit." Allie said, taking a seat. "Nothing else does."

Cornelia glared across the table at Allie, but her focus soon changed as she heard Irma let out a little giggle.

"Traitor." Cornelia said to Irma.

"I'm sorry, I must've missed the part where I swore allegiance to you." Irma replied. "I'm friends with you and Allie."

"Even when all they do is fight?" Hay Lin asked.

"Hey, dinner and a show!" Irma said, raising her milk carton in a mock toast.

Eventually tempers settled and the group began to act as they had before. Jokes were told, stories were exchanged, and various teachers were mocked. Those who had yet to meet her were introduced to Will, who felt a bit like a product on a manufacturing line, being inspected for defects. Her fears were unfounded however, and each member of the clique welcomed her with a smile. She was just beginning to memorize everyone's names when two new people, both boys, had showed up at the table. By the faces of her friends, however, Will could tell that these two were unwanted guests.

"Hello ladies." One of the boys said with a bitter tone. "How come you didn't save us a spot?"

"Carny and Uriah." Irma whispered to Will. "Local oafs. One day we expect them to slither back into the water."

"Sorry, boys, but there are certain requirements to sit at this table." Ray said.

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Well, a double digit IQ for starters. And some basic understanding of personal hygiene would be nice."

Those sitting at the table laughed while Carny and Uriah clenched their fists.

"Come on Carny." Uriah said, beginning to walk away. "We don't need these losers."

But Carny wasn't about to let Ray get the last word in, and stayed for just a second longer.

"Yeah, you're right Uriah. I don't want to sit with these mutts anyways."

"What did you call us?" Ray said, jumping to his feet, fist clenched.

Will glanced over at Taranee while this took place. She knew that Taranee and Ray were both well aware of their mixed heritage, but it didn't look like Taranee wanted any trouble. Instead, she remained sitting, trying to stay calm.

"You've got a big mouth Carny." Ray said. "Too bad you don't have anything to back it up."

"One of these days were gonna have to settle this for good Okamoto." Carny replied.

"Today seems as good as any." Ray responed, fists clenched.

Will couldn't take her eyes off Taranee. As Ray and Carny kept arguing, Taranee was getting more and more angry, but she kept herself from saying anything. Instead, she just gripped the edge of the table tighter and tighter, until Will thought it was going to break.

Instead, something much stranger happened. The table burst into flames right where Taranee was touching it. Everyone jumped back quickly, except for Taranee, who was to stunned to move. Even though Will was sure she had seen the flames engulf Taranee's hands, the girl didn't seem burned at all. It didn't take long before a scene had gathered, as Irma and Cornelia quickly tried to put out the flame. Will could only watch, wondering what exactly she had gotten herself into.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, Ray walk you home?" Ray looked up to see Allie and Gab hurry up to his side.

"Sure, Allie I didn't have much to do after school. Thought of contacting you for a video chat later anyways, save me from getting on the computer." Ray remarks cheerfully.

"Hmmm. Your in a good mood," Allie gives Gabe a knowing smirk and Gabe returns it with a small smile of acknowledgment. "Could it be you finally got a chance to ask out a certain black-haired, bespectacled lady?"

Ray stumble as he sputtered in shock and embarrassment, causing the two friends to laugh and chuckle.

"I do-why-they-wh-da...WHAT!?" Ray managed to stammer out.

"Come on, Ray. You STILL haven't asked Taranee out?" Allie asked her friend.

"Why would I have?" Ray questioned his friends, now dubbed traitors in his mind, as if the idea was ludicrous.

"Maybe it's because ever since you met Taranee you felt a emotional pull to her and a connection," Gabe went into explanation mode. "Due in a large part to your being of mixed heritage and a bullying problem, which resulted in you two forming a close bond which matured into romantic feelings."

"I...THAT WAS RHETORICAL!" Ray was totally red in the face, glaring at a laughing Allie. Ray was now flustered and more than a little floored by gabe's explanation.

"I mean...sure, we have stuff in common but..." Ray rubbed the back of his head and tried to avoid looking at his friends in the eye. Allie took pity on the usually fiery but now shy and bashful acting raiden.

"Look, Ray, we're your nearest and dearest friends." Allie goes up to place a friendly hand on Ray's shoulder, smiling at him.

"And as your nearest, dearest friends we're telling you to get your head out of your butt,"She grips his shoulders with both hands tightly. "And admit how you feel to Taranee, it's obvious she feels the same way, you goon!"

Ray blinks at Allie but seem to accept her words a truth and looks over her shoulder to Gabe.

"You think so too, Gabe?" Ray asked.

"Of Course. Those were gonna be my words exactly." The plump teen then considered his words. "Well, except for the 'head in butt and 'Goon' part."

Ray chuckles, but in truth their right. He felt this...pull with Taranee, they shared so many interest and were so similar. Being around her felt right, and he wanted to express it.

"Ray, this is Destiny." Allie further states her argument on why Ray should tell his feelings to Taranee. "You were brought together by Fate! Remember, how Taranee said she picked out her house when she and her family first decided to move here?"

Ray got a thoughtful expression on his face, "She said a flame drew her to the house that her parents eventually bought and moved into to..."

"The same house that was down the street from YOUR house," Allie reminded him with a smug grin. "Annnnnd you wounded up meeting her the VERY next day she moved in."

Ray chuckles. It seems The Universe, and Allie, were dead set on him AT LEAST confession his crush to Taranee.

"Do you EVER get tired of being right all the time?" He asked jokingly. Allie crossed her arms and pretended to look thoughtful.

"Sometimes..."

* * *

"Sooooo..." Taranee turned a tad startled, she didn't hear Irma come up behind her nor did she expect to be grinning at her like the cat that got the canary.

"Uh, hey, Irma shouldn't you be heading to the Silver Dragon?" Taranee asked, but Irma grinned sneakily as she shuffled over to Taranee.

"I could ask YOU the same question, Miss-Missy-Meeting-Miss!" Irma said in an accusatory tone.

"Errr...What?" Taranee was perplexed and a little nervous, Irma pointed a finger at Taranee and kept her eyes dead set on the other girls face.

"So, Hay Lin is going over to Ray's?" Irma asked in what Taranee assumed was supposed to be a nonchalant tone.

"Yeah. Ray's been sketching more and so has Hay Lin, so she wanted to compare them." Taranee explained.

"But what about the little meeting Grandma Lin wanted us ALL to attend?" Irma asked in suspicious tone.

"Hay Lin said she would understand" Taranee was feeling more nervous, suspecting that Irma was suspecting the REAL reason for the visit and her fears were soon confirmed.

"And you're going with her, 'becaaaaause...' Irma drawled in an amused tone with a smirk, waiting to hear Taranee's explanation.

"Because...because..." Taranee fumbled through her mind for an explanation. "Because you know how Hay Lin get's around art like Ray's, she'll forget about the Meeting." Taranee grins, happy with her good reason. "So, I'll be there to remind her." At first Irma didn't look like she bought it. Then she smiled,

"Oh, okay. Well, just be sure you get to the Silver Dragon in time, I'll try not to eat ALL the food."

"Thanks, Irma." Taranee waved to Irma before turning to leave, but Irma's voice made her freeze in her tracks. "And when you DO ask Ray out, don't YOU lose track of time when you start to make out." Irma's cackling cause Taranee to sigh in defeat and shake her head as she kept walking forward.

* * *

"Sweet! Short day and Friday. Things are lookin' up." Allie said. The group of friends, that consisted of Ray, Taranee, Hay Lin, Allie and Gabe, was walking down an alleyway as a short cut from school.

"Agreed, I-" Hay Lin was cut off as she and Taranee were pinned to the wall by Kurt and Clubber. Allie and Gabe tried making a mad dash for the exit

"Nigel, get them!" Uriah said before they could, Nigel grabbed Allie's arm and pulled her back shoving a shocked Gabe to the ground, Uriah laughed at him. Ray glared angrily at Kurt and Clubber as they pinned Hay Lin and Taranee to the wall of the alley and at Nigel, who hadn't let go of Allie's arm and was equally infuriated by Uriah's taunting.

"Bob and Weave, Bob and Weave..." Ray whispered to himself, then took a deep breath and glare up at Uriah. "That's it, I've had enough of..OOOF!" Ray had failed to notice that Carny was not with them, which was most likely why he was sent tumbling to the ground, when someone rammed into him from behind, his backpack spilling out on to the ground.

"You sure?" Carny mocked the prone Ray. "Because I've got a lot-Ooh-ooh-for ya."

"Yeah, you tell him, Carny." Uriah laughed obnoxiously. Nigel however looked uncomfortable with all this, and frowned at Uriah.

"Come on, Uriah do we gotta do this?" Nigel asked uneasily as Allie made attempts to whack him with the back of her hand.

"What's the matter, wussing out, Nig?" Uriah mocked. Gabe tried sitting up but Carny faked a kick to his face, making him sink back to the ground.

"Do we need to be so rough with the girls?" Nigel said.

"Girls?" Carny speaks up, before Uriah could speak. "All I see is some scrawny-shrimp and the mutt's mongrel girlfriend!" Taranee's face scrunched up in hurt and Hay-Lin cried out in offense. Allie glowered heatedly at both Uriah and Carny and threw a hatred look to Nigel.

"YOU DON'T TALK TO HER LIKE THAT!" Ray shouts, leaping up to charge at Carny but was tripped by Uriah, allowing Carny to grab him into a choke-hold.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE, CARNY-VAL!" Hay Lin shouted out to mock Carny with his nickname, struggling against Clubber's arm.

"What'd we ever do to you!" Taranee spat out, finally getting fed up.

"Ooooh. You hear something, Uriah?" Carny grinned at his partner, who was rummaging through Ray's backpack.

"I can hear is a dog howling." Uriah said "What have we hear?" Uriah smirked as he pulled out Ray's notebook. He flips through the pages, before coming to the picture of a one-horned animal. "Hey look, Carny." Uriah holds up the pic. "Looks like Raiduhh-n sketched Taranee's picture!" Taranee's face grew red and to Clubber, it seemed like she was steaming.

"Lovely likeness," Carny sneered. "Come on, tell us. What's the name of your little masterpiece?"

"Come on, guys." Nigel pleads.

"SHUT IT, ASHCROFT!" Carny snaps at Nigel, and tightens his hold on Ray's neck. "You heard me 'MUTT' what's it called?"

"It's called . . . it's a . . . RUMBLING TERRASAUR!" Ray shouts as his voice seems to echo and the wind suddenly picks up speed. And just like that, a flash of light seems to burst in the alleyway, and a huge behemoth stomps into the Alleyway. It looks at the stunned, mouth gaped kids for moment. And then...

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWR!" The bullies ran out of the ally, screaming and crying out as they each headed in different directions. Ray jumped up, grabbed Gabe's hand, pulled him to his feet and started chasing after the girls who were headed towards a construction site with the beast on their heels. They all crowded behind a large stack of bricks and stayed quite as the loud sound of the monster's breathing and stomping got quite.

"You think we lost it?" Ray breathed as Taranee clutched his arm.

"RAAAAAAAWR!" The beast barreled through the stack of bricks, throwing the teens backwards. The beast takes an attacking stance.

"It- It may have bad eyesight, I-if we don't move-" Gabe stutters as the beast roars loudly. Ray turns to his friends.

"Run." He commands in a hushed voice.

"Um, can't seem to move my feet." Allie says,

"Me either." Hay Lin says, her eyes about the size of dinner plates. The beast growls and chargers Ray. Ray shuts his eyes as the beast's gets in his face and snorts. The Rumbling Terrasaur looked at the boy, not advancing. Ray reaches out tentatively and touches its nose gingerly.

"That's interesting." a man with long, blonde hair and wearing a suit said, noticing the scene before him. The Rumbling Terrasaur obviously knew this guy was danger and turned to face him, keeping Ray out of sight. "You are a bit of a problem. But I have a solution." The man says as he raises his right hand which looked mechanical and started whirring. The tips of the fingers shot out, trailing yellow energy. The first two ripped a whole in the air and the other three went through it. A moment later, a large blue, green and purple eel like monster was pulled through. it coiled around the man. "That's better. Now, Raguslurka... Attack." The man thrust his hand forward and the creature attacked the Rumbling Terrasaur. The five friends stared in horror as the eel like creäture started electrocuting the Rumbling Terrasaur who then threw the Raguslurka off into a stack of bricks then charged the man. He dodged then thrust his hand out again, the eel creäture responded and coiled around the Rumbling Terrasaur and electrocuted it then threw it into a large wooden box a few feet from the man. Ray rushed forward and stood in front of the beast.

"Wait, sir! Don't kill it!" the man looks down at Ray. "I-I-I don't think it was going to hurt us." Ray looked over his shoulder at the beast then back to the man.

"Young man, this beast is extremely dangerous, but I have no intention of killing it."

"Who are you?" Ray ask suspiciously.

"I could ask you the same question." They both look up as a van pulls into the site and stops in front of the beast. Ray's friends all give each other suspicious looks as people step out of the van.

"Containment." A woman with silver hair orders two men. She turns to the man and Ray as the other four teens rush over to them. Taranee grabs Rays arm

"Uh come on Ray. Time to go." She says as the four race out of the site. The silver-haired woman opens for right hand and a small ball of light floats into the air, it splits into two and starts glowing. It then flies over to the beast and latches on to its horn, two long cords wrapping around its mouth, clamping it shut.

"Shall I eliminate the witnesses, my Lord?" The woman asks the man.

"Alakshmi, they're children." The man says disapprovingly "You might encourage them not to post online about the experience." She bows her head as the man walks away. Meanwhile, a man sits on top of a roof a block away, watching the scene through binoculars. He is not very happy.

* * *

AT THE SILVER DRAGON

Meanwhile, the rest of the girls were gathered at a table in the back room of the Silver Dragon, enjoying the meal Yan Lin had put out for them. When Irma made mention that Hay Lin would be late, with Taranee 'Chaperoning' as it was put by the Teen. Yan Lin gave a knowing smile as she went to fetch something from the other room, while the girls began to make conversation with Will.

"So, Will, where did you go to school before Sheffield?" Cornelia asked as Hay Lin and Taranee weren't there to fill the role of 'Warm Inquisitor' in order to ply information from the new girl. Truth be told, Cornelia seemed to like her there was something about Will that made Cornelia want to like her, but she was so shy and twitchy around them. It made her wonder what terrible thing happened to make her transfer to another school, and be so...Bambi-ish? Wobbly, unsure and jumpy around new things.

Before Will could even open her mouth, Ray, Allie, Gabe, Taranee and Hay Lin burst into the room.

"Whoah. What happened to you five, accidentally get caught up in a marathon." Irma jokingly asked.

The five quickly stagger over to the table, flopping down with pants, and gulping down the drinks offered to them. Allie didn't even care she was seated next to Cornelia.

"Okay, for reals?" Cornelia looks perplexed. "What's going on, what happened?"

"You guys look like you saw a ghost?" Will asked warily.

"Not...Ghost...MONSTER!" Gabe screamed out in fear.

Yan Lin was about to step into the room, but quickly hide behind the door, listening in through the crack.

"You guys wouldn't believe us if we told you." Taranee informed them with a nervous glance at them all.

"See, we ran into Carny and Uriah..." Ray starts to explain.

"Well, that explains the frightened expressions and talk of 'Monsters.'" Irma quips.

"And then this HUGE Rhinoceros on Steroids appear!" Hay Lin jumps in waving her arms dramatically as she attempted to describe the beast. "It had a huge horn, armor like back, and came out of a weird, glowing hole in mid-air.

Yan Lin's eyes widened in recognition of what her granddaughter described from her spot behind the door.

"And there was this man..." Taranee interjects with a hint of apprehension. "He showed up and...called out to this fish creature... Rapids Lurker Wwh..Mmph!"

Taranee flails when Allie jumps up to cover her mouth, knocking back Hay Lin a bit as she made shushing noises at Taranee.

"DON'T SAY IT'S NAME!" Allie warns Taranee.

"Why not?" Hay Lin asked.

"Yeah. Okay, I'm lost too." Will pipes up, Irma gives her a nod of acknowledgment.

"Join the club."

"I mean, Ray here drew that Giant Horned...THing, before we even saw it!" Allie states.

"Ahem." Taranee pulls Allie's hands off her mouth with a irked expression.

"Oh, sorry..." Allie apologizes.

"What you mean Rumbling-MEH!"

Now Taranee was clamping her hands over Ray's mouth, but quickly pulled away with a vivid blush at the personal contact.

"Ah..That's...Sorry. But you said it's name and it appeared!" Taranee made a point of bringing that to their attention.

"So did the other guy." Hay Lin says.

"Hello! Are you guys even listening to yourselves?" Cornelia cuts into the ongoing debate. "Your talking about monsters, weird men...I mean, there's no way that could've possibly happen!"

"Says the girl who believes she's gonna marry Vance Michael Jackson." Allie quips, earning a frown from Cornelia.

"I know what I saw." Ray retorts.

"And I know I saw what he saw," Taranee admits.

"Yeah, but that's a given since you have a crush on Ray, like Irma said. Right?"

Will's words caused Taranee and Ray to freeze, and the others to stare at her in disbelief. Will claps her hands to her face, groaned in utter embarrassment.

"Or, was that something that was NOT supposed to be said 'out loud' by the girl who just ruined her chance to make new friends."

Irma was sitting next to Will and reached over to pat her reassuringly on the shoulders.

"That's okay, at least you can take my job of blabbing out loud secrets. Like Cornelia buying anti-fungal cream last week." Irma says pointedly to redirect attention away from Will, and the awkwardly shuffling Ray and Taranee.

"AH!" Cornelia huffs in offense. "I do not have foot fungus!"

"Riiiight. Because to do that, you'd have to take your shoes OFF. And we ALL know how much you appreciate your shoes, Cornelia." Allie snipes. "Almost as much as yourself."

"Look you..." Cornelia stands up with her fist clenched, but hay Lin jumps in between her and Allie.

"Guys! Let's not ignore the Elephant in the Room!"

"Or in this case the "Giant Horned Thingy"' Irma quips, winking at Will as the attention was now redirected.

"Yeah. We saw an ACTUAL, Living, breathing, beasty!" Hay Lin states dramatically.

"Hay Lin, come on..." Cornelia sighs exasperated. "Not that it's not a good thing to change the subject from Ray and Taranee."

"Oh which we are Both grateful for..." Ray murmurs. Him and Taranee not looking at each other in embarrassment. And Poor Will looking pitifully sorry for causing the awkwardness.

"But there are NO Such things as Monsters!" Cornelia reiterates.

"Oh, you'd be surprised what IS and ISN'T real."

Yan Lin steps into the room, holding a box in her hands, startling the kids a bit by her suddenly entering the room.

"Uhh...Grandma." Hay Lin stammers a little put off. "How...how long have you been outside the door?"

"Oh long enough and I know full well of the creature you just described." Yan Lin then puts the box onto the Table.

"Uh, what's in the box Grandma?" Hay Lin asked.

"Let me tell you all a Story, that I believe will have a special meaning and fully explain things."

"Uh, not that we don't all appreciate your Aesop like gift for tales, Mrs. Lin." Gabe feels the need to cut in. "But is NOW a good time?"

"Shhhh..." Yan Lin puts a finger to her lips, before reaching out to point at the wall. But instead of hitting air, her finger seem to touch a invisible wall, as the air ripples like water images began to appear all around the kids.

The sun was shown, as were countless planets that floated all around the kids, who gaped in total surprise.

"The Universe was once a single kingdom; ruled by good." Yan Lin said as she started her tale.

"Whoah. And I thought the Fish-thing and One-Horned beastie was impressive!" Allie muttered.

"Rumbling Terrasaur." Hay Lin corrected.

"Agh! You said it!" Allie yelps in alarm, expecting it to suddenly appear.

"It will not appear, Alison." Yan Lin sternly informs the girl. "For it takes MORE than saying it's name to breach 'the veil.'"

"The veil?" Will asked in confusion. Thou she and everyone else were taking in the sights with gasps of amazement.

"Yes, it was set up well over thousands of years ago." Yan Lin states in a regretful tone. "It seperated our world from the world of the Kaiju. Creatures which once lived alongside the humans, but discord and evil began to taint the relations between the humans and creatures. Worse, outside forces attempted to corrupt our world. So, a 'VEIL' was created to separate ALL the worlds from one another, and soon the creatures were long forgotten' cept for a chosen few."

"Namely, us."

Everyone turned to the open door, where a man entered into the back room holding up Ray's notepad. Seemingly unperturbed by the strange celestial light show going on in the room.

The man was clearly of Hispanic origins, slick black hair, where red pants, and a leather zip up good. Thou the material itself seemed to be of a different type of leather. He calmly assessed the room.

"Hello, I am Hector Chavez." He holds up the notepad with the sketch on the front of it, showing the Rumbling Terrasaur. "I assume one of you drew this?"

"Uh...me?" Ray raises his hand up in the air.

"Ah. I see the Duel Masters have already made their first steps," Yan Lin speaks with both her hands in her sleeves.

"I see you are aware of me and the order?" Hector blinks a few times, before calmly questioning Yan Lin.

"More than you know..." Yan Lin turns to the girls. "You girls have a great Destiny in store for you all, and I suspect the same from YOU, Raiden."

Yan Lin points to Ray, before fixing Hector with a hard gaze.

"Tell me, do you know of...the Council Of Kandrakar?"

"It is well known to the Council of Masters." Chavez says in a breathy tone. "They are supposedly the overseers of the entire Universe and the infinite worlds alongside it."

Yes. Kandrakar Long ago, this place was created to house those whose task is to watch over other worlds and dimensions. Yes recently Kandrakar created a SECOND veil, She nods her head toward Hay Lin to identify her for Chavez. "When the world of Metamoor was separated from ALL other worlds, by a secondary veil created by Kandrakar, so to isolate it from our world and the others."

"Why was it isolated?" Will pipes up, her focus now solely on Yan Lin.

"To protect us. If this second veil should EVER fail, many worlds, including Earth will be in INCREDIBLE DANGER."

A image of of a world, most likely Metamoor, appears behind Yan Lin and starts to be overrun with purple roses. Their thorny vines seem to stretch out to the other planets and infect them, till they turn black.

Everyone gaps in shock, even Master Chavez seems shaken by this news.

"And the cause of this?" Hector speaks up, overcoming his surprise.

"The kingdom of Meridian is the Capital of Metamoor and the home of it's Royal family. It's Prince, Phobos has become corrupt, cruel and hungry for power. He has overtaken the Capital, and now seeks to conquer other worlds to feed his consuming hunger for life and power." Yan Lin's words make the others shiver, and the face of said Prince appears, and everyone knows they are looking at a face of pure evil.

"But Phobos is not the LEGITIMATE Ruler," Yan Lin further explains. "The people of this world believe, the TRUE heir to the Throne is somewhere here on Earth."

"Ummm...I'd like to wake up now." Irma whimpers, sorta overwhelmed by all this as were the others. Even Hector seemed to be startled by what he was hearing.

"I see, but how come the Duel Masters were never informed of this?" Chavez asks Yan Lin. "And why do YOU know about this?"

"Because of the danger, and because the veil has kept steady all these years, it was deemed unnecessary to inform your Order..." Yan Lin then conjures up a image of a blue, swirling, sparking hole. "But portals have begun to open in the veil, doorways through which Phobo's army can cross between worlds. And a ripple effect has begun to effect the Original veil." Yan Lin turns to point at Chavez. "That YOUR Order is charged with maintaining, and safeguarding." She takes a breathe, as it is a long speech. "In fact, I believe it is why young Raiden, my granddaughter and their friends encountered such a creature earlier."

She then smiles, holding up one hand to the portal.

"And to answer you, Master Chavez. There are people called 'Guardians' who's job it is to close these holes, using their powers."

Yan Lin snaps her fingers, in a instant the room is back to the way it is and the images fade away.

"I was a guardian." Yan Lin's words make Chavez snap to attention, but having already come to that conclusion on his own. "But now the duty has fallen to my Granddaughter and HER generation. And of course, it seems that Raiden and his friends are involved as well."

"Whoah. Whoah. Whoah." Cornelia waves her hands in time-out fashion. "What do you mean, 'Duty?' And I definitely know Alison isn't destined for greatness." Allie frowns at Cornelia. "But Raiden and Gabe?"

"Ah. Ah. Ah!" Yan Lin waves her finger at Cornelia to seat her down, and stop any fight between the blonds from sparking.

Yan Lin then opens the box on the table, pulling out a pink crystal

Yan Lin then opens the box on the table, pulling out a pink crystal which is on a rope like necklace, she holds it up as it glows with a shimmering pink light.

"This is the Heart of Kandrakar. Which contains the elementary forces of Nature," Yan Lin explains to all who blink in awe at the dazzling talisman.

"Astounding." Master Chavez glances at the talisman, but then is distracted by the shimmering green light coming from a green-glass monocle like pendant Ray was wearing around his neck (Which slipped out of his hoodie, when he leaned over to gaze in amazement at the amulet.) Hector reaches into his shirt to pull out his own, blood red pendant.

"In the last few days, you've all had 'unusual' experiences am I right?" Yan Lin says with a knowing smiles aimed at Ray.

"Uh, yeah." Allie states matter of factly.

"And that was BEFORE Grandma Lin pulled out the 1000 volt light-bulb out on us." Irma quips.

"Not the time, Irma." Allie stage whispered but was a little pale when Yan Lin turned to said girl.

"All five of you girls will start to notice EXTRAORDINARY abilities. Irma, you might have noticed any WATER near you behaving strangely."

Master Chavez had seen quite a few feats from the Water Civilization, but seeing a human girl pull the straw out of her glass of water, only for the water to follow and form into a ball. Really took the cake.

"Oh My!"

"Wow-wee!"

"Okay, that isn't normal, right?"

"Holy-Shazzbot!"

"Sweet!"

"Kinda freaked out now..."

The water then splashed back down into the glass, "Okaaaaaaay."

Irma glanced around, checking to see if they all saw, what she THINKS she saw herself do.

"So..." Raiden looks thoughtfully at Taranee, remembering the event earlier today. "Taranee, I guess given the little "incident" at the Cafeteria..."

"No! No! No! No!" Taranee frantically shook her head, waving her hands in a panic. "I CANNOT do fire, I don't even like fire. It scares me!"

"I know but, you can't deny it DOES have a special influence on your life." Ray gently soothes he worry, calmly taking her hands in his to stop the flailing, as he without saying it reminds her of how they'd first met.

"Mmmmm." Taranee moans in worry. "Does it HAVE to be fire?"

"Try concentrating on that candle and you will see." Yan Lin softly coaxed Taranee, who looked down at her hands, worried she'd set Ray's hands on fire. But he smiles softly at her, before she looks up and focused on the candle.

Instead, she managed to light the banana in the fruit bowl on the table on fire.

"Whoah!"

"Astounding!"

"Hot Potato!"

"Mios Dios."

Irma quickly used her new found ability to quickly douse out the flames on the banana.

"Okay, no need to worry." Ray rubs the back of Taranee's hands soothingly. "It was a good first try, and you didn't catch cornelia's hair on fire."

"Then how good of a try was it?" Allie remarks, earning a stuck out tongue from Cornelia.

"My Little Hay Lin, this morning you noticed your power over air." Yan lin spoke on. She then holds up a paper lantern, where with one puff, Hay Lin caused it to inflate and float up.

"And what power does Cornelia have?" Allie asks with a wry smirk. "The ability to clash terribly with clothes."

"Then I guess the incessant power to ANNOY people is yours then," Cornelia snaps back.

Yan Lin gives a resigned sigh as she glances wearily toward Hector, before picking a potted plant off the window sill and setting it in front of Cornelia. It was empty, but had a small little bud.

"Wow. Look at that..." Cornelia muttered, waving her hand over the pot caused the plant to grow and bloom into a flower.

"What an awe inspiring display of manipulation of terrafirma!" Gabe exclaims in awe.

"Wha...?" Will looks to Ray for a answer.

"He means control over Earth." Ray shrugs.

"Some control..." Allie remarks as the flower pot explodes as the roots grow too large.

"All five of you will get better with practice...I hope." Yan Lin cuts in again.

"Guess that leaves us out," Ray said looking at Gabe and Allie.

"I wouldn't be so sure." Hector said, bringing himself back to the others attention.

"Wait...FIVE?" Allie spoke up, then she and the others looked toward Will with a curious expression.

"Uh, sorry to disappoint but I can't even do that trick where it looks like your thumb comes apart." Will states.

Yan Lin holds out the Heart of Kandrakar, which floats around the room, and thou the other kids look expectantly at it. The Heart soon settled in Will's hands.

"One of the chosen five will be picked to bind the others and with the Heart of Kandrakar, unites them, summoning and magnifying their powers."

Yan Lin finished as the heart stopped glowing and floating, nestled safely in Will's hands.

"Darn. I was sorta curios to see if I'd be the one," Ray jokes.

"But I AM sorta more curious as to why this...Hector guy is here." Irma states, jerking her thumb toward the man.

"I was here to see Ray and the others," Hector explains. "I had witness the Rumbling Terrasaur appearing...yet it did not attack him. Most strange."

"Indeed. They are wild and most often charge without warning." Yan Lin comments.

"Still. It appears Ray already has a pendent of his own." Hector's pointing that out makes Ray instinctively put his hand over the green glass like monocle hanging around his neck. But he lowers his hand when Hector pulls out his own pendent, which sparkles a deep red.

"Whoah. Nice Bling." Cornelia coos over the gem.

"It is MORE than just...'Bling.'" Hector reprimands gently. "But all this seems to be MORE than circumstance, especially given Mrs. Lin here KNOWING about my Order."

"It was a joining of minds, we took to our duties and the Duel Masters took to theirs." Yan Lin cheerfully states. "Besides, we didn't interfere in their work, and they didn't interfere in ours."

"Yeah, you still haven't quite explained WHAT this 'Order' does by the way, Grandma." Hay Lin pipes up.

"Well..."

A loud crash cuts her off, everyone rushes out of the room and stop as they stand in the doorway. There was the same Silver-Haired girl from before, as Hay Lin points out with a gasp.

"It's that girl from before!" Hay Lin points out to Ray, Taranee, Alison and Gabe.

Everyone lets out various calls of alarm, as the silver haired girl, wearing some purple, metallic glove stands in front of the shattered glass door of the Restaurant. Two large scorpion like creatures are in front of her, with a wave of her hand one scurries around the building, while the other crawls over the wrecked door towards them.

"Inside!" Hector shouts out as they all hurry into the back room, shutting the door and barricading it with a shelf.

"She's gonna be trouble..."

"Okay, now I believe you guys!" Cornelia gasps in alarm at Ray and Taranee.

"What? Mrs. Lin didn't convince you before with the magical illusion thing!?" Taranee asked rhetorically.

"Well, it IS a large leap from Evil Prince's to evil chick's with scorpion monsters." Irma jokes in a attempt to cover her beating heart.

"Should we call the police?" Ray asks worriedly.

"Try the Army!" Will says.

"I'm afraid they'd be ill prepared to handle this sorta situation." Yan Lin calmly explains. "Plus, they'd never get here in time."

"Is there a back way?" Hector asks Mrs. Lin.

"This way! Come along, Children!" Yan Lin rushes the kids out the other door into the hallway to the kitchen, but stop when large holes are punched through the door by the other scorpion creature.

"Okay, bad idea!" Yan lin stumbles, caught onto Hay Lin's arm and turns around, waving her hands frantically.

"Down to the basement! HURRY!"

Quickly everyone goes into the basement, the door is shut behind them and the all gather at the bottom of the stairs to pant and catch their breathe.

"Oh great, now we're trapped!" Cornelia points out in alarm.

"Thank you, Queen of the Obvious!" Allie snaps.

"We just need time to gather our wits." Gabe states.

"And then?" Taranee asks warily.

"Then...PANIC!" Gabe yells.

"Can you not do something?" Hector asks Yan Lin.

"I'm retired!" Yan Lin explains rapidly. "And even if I wanted too. It would drain my mana to use my old powers, and that Light show I did upstairs was PLANNED, I had acquired enough life force for it."

"Well..what does that girl want with us!?" Taranee asks wrought with worry.

"Apparently, I'm not the only one interested in your boyfriend." Hector remarks.

"He's/She's not my boyfriend/girlfiend!" The two said in sync, causing them to look away and blush.

"Maybe we can fight her?" Will suggests, holding up the crystal.

"No." Yan Lin puts her hands over Will's. "You've only JUST now, learned about your abilities. You've not even trained with them yet."

"Everyone, let me deal with this." Hector has the kids and Yan Lin step back to one side of the basement.

Gilaflame the Assaulter!

The black glove on Hector's right hand morphs in a bright flash into a red-armored like gauntlet. And with a spinning kick, formed a ring of fire around himself, before calling out, causing a large red portal to appear with a flame and cogwheel symbol in the center.

Out of it stepped a ten foot tall lizard like creature, with razor-sharp extensions on its arms.

"Whoah!" The kids all exclaimed in surprise.

"uhhh...he's not gonna fit in here." Hay Lin points out, but it was moot as the basement door went flying off the hinges. And Alakshmi descends down the stairs, the scorpions going ahead of her, tails poised to strike.

"Gilaflame, eviscerate!" Hector commands with a quick gesture of both his hands.

The scorpion lunged at Gilaflame, who's back was to the stairs, but it's slash missed and suddenly gilaflame was behind the creature and with a swipe of it's arm. Slashed through the creature, causing it to disappear in a burst of green sparkles and flowers.

Alakshmi ran toward Hector, but though Gilaflame speed-ran in front of her and slashed at her with his blades. She easily rolled under him and held out her hand to the ceiling.

"Razorkinder Puppet, COME!"

As from before, the tips of the fingers shot out, trailing yellow energy. The first two ripped a whole in the air and the other three went through it. This time the creature was different. A large purple, clown like monster puppet, with razor sharp teeth and claws. Stripped clothes, polka dot over-alls and dark, inverted eyes. It fell out of the hole and lay limp on the floor, but then a series of marionette strings shot up to the ceiling and it lifted itself upwards.

It then lifted it's head to leer at Hector with a narrow glared.

"Eviscerate HIM!" Aklashmi orders.

The demonic puppets body spins, thou it's head remains still as it's eyes are zeroed in on Hector, before it spins through the air toward him. It slashes at hector, who skillfully, dodges, back flips to avoid the Ginsu-sharp claws of the puppet. One strike from the puppet almost hit Hector, but a bright flash of light, revealed it hitting a shield that repelled the attack.

"Gilaflame, cover our escape!"

In the blink of an eye the fire-lizard had grabbed Razorkinder and the remaining scorpion, pinning them both to the wall.

Hector held up his pendent which rippled to reveal a jungle like area through it. Once he was certain, he performed a series of moves and in a flash of green light, a green swirling portal appeared.

"Time to go, everyone." Hector calls out.

"Come on, Grandma!" Hay Lin tugs on her grandma's hand frantically.

"Hay Lin, someone has to stay behind to distract her," Yan Lin informs her granddaughter. "And explain to your parents what happened here."

"B-bu-but!" Hay Lin looks terrified of leaving her grandmother behind. Hector places a hand on the young girls shoulder.

"Gilaflame will watch over her, now come on!"

Hector guided Hay Lin to the portal; but looked over his shoulder after the last of the kids jumped through, to see Aklashmi charging toward Yan Lin.

"GILAFLAME, PROTECT HER!" Hector waves his gauntlet at Yan Lin.

Gilaflame looked over and eviscerated the last scorpion, which disappeared but left Razorkinder to fall to the floor, before charging into Aklashmi. Knocking the woman over and holding out his arms to protect Yan Lin.

"Good Luck, Guardian!" Hector calls out, jumping backwards into the portal and making the gestures to seal it shut.

"Well...now we are alone." Yan Lin folds her hands into her sleeves and fixes Aklashmi with a serious stare. "And you'll know now that attacking my Granddaughter and her friends is a BIG mistake!"

"Raaawr!" Gilaflame lunges toward Aklashmi but stop short of biting her.

"Ohh!"

Yan Lin cries out in alarm for several wires had wrapped themselves around Gilaflames fingers, neck, mouth and torso.

"Ahahahahaaha!" Razorkinder puppet cackled in it's high-pitched hyena laugh, the strings once attached to it's body, now coming out from it's sleeve. With a jerk of the arm, the wires wrapped tightly around Gilaflame, forcing his arms to his side and tied his legs tight together. It got tighter and tighter until Gilaflame exploded in a burst of red light and fire.

"Hmmm. Looks like we're Alone once more, old crone." Aklashmi sneers at Yan Lin, as Razorkinder hovers toward her suspended by it's strings. "And now YOU will learn what a BIG mistake THAT was..."

She jerks her hand toward Yan Lin, and Razorkinder lunges toward the old woman, who calmly pull out her hand to point at the Demonic Puppet. A bright, pulsating light suddenly shot out of her fingertip, shooting straight through Razorkinder's mask, causing him to scream and explode in purple light and smoke.

"Ahh!" Aklashmi screamed out in frustration and angry disbelief.

"I'd suggest you leave now, Girl." Yan Lin warns, thou she looked wobbly on her legs, she didn't seem ready to back down.

"Your low on mana, you just had THREE creatures BANISHED," Yan Lin gives her a amused smirk. "And I doubt you have enough mana to combat an Old crone am I right?"

"Grrrr." Aklashmi clenches her metal glove like right hand in frustration, but accepted the truth. She'd already wasted enough time here as it was and the police might soon show up.

"This isn't over, Old Woman!"

Aklashmi spits out, before running up the stairs and out of the basement.

Yan Lin stares at the doorway for a long while, before she puts her hand to her chest and falls on her butt, panting in exertion.

* * *

When everyone came to their sense, they realized they were outside...and in a whole other area, they are on the edge of a cliff, while a large mountain loomed over them from behind. They all stared down at the wide, expansive jungle that seemed to stretch for miles in front of them all.

"Oh...My...GAWCK!" Cornelia attempted to say something else, but chocked on her words at the extraordinary sights she saw before her eyes.

Even the others were in shock and awe, and Hay Lin bounced up and down excitedly pointing down toward a river.

"LOOK! LOOK! LOOK!" Hay Lin grabs Ray's arm to get his attention. "It's the Rumbling Terrasuar's family!"

Irma took a glance over Ray's shoulder, and indeed saw a huge herd of large-one horned beasts drinking from a river.

"Whoah. Big fellas, aren't they?"

"You should see them when they're about to charge at you at top speed." Ray manages to get out once he gets Hay Lin to settle down.

"This place is INCREDIBLE!" Will gasps in awe.

"My thoughts precisely." Gabe speaks up from beside Allie.

"I...don't suppose we're still in Heatherfield, are we?" Taranee nervously asked Hector.

"Are you kidding!?" Cornelia freaks out. "I'm not even sure we're on the Same PLANET!"

"Are those tree's dancing?" Irma states as she points to the jungle, where the trees seem to be moving of their own will.

"Okay, we are DEFINITELY not in Heatherfield." Will states the obvious. "And my mom barely likes me going to the grocery store. She won't be able to handle me being on another planet!"

"Please, all of your remain calm. We are STILL on Earth, but on a different plane of reality." Hector attempts to quell the possible panic that might arise.

"Ummm...too 'IN SHOCK' to question what you mean." Taranee states, slightly hyperventilating.

"Easy, Taranee." Irma tries to soothe the frazzled girl.

"Yeah, it can't get any worst!" Gabe helpfully adds in, only for Cornelia to look at him in shock.

"WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT!?"

Cornelia's yell was then forgotten, when a huge, massive stony pillar slammed down into the ground nearby. But in actually, that 'Pillar' was in reality A HAND! And what it was attached to had the kids REALLY panicking now!

A Huge tall, massive, greenish tan, stone humanoid monster with thick tree like appendages, spiked, peaking shoulders, and red lines tracing up its body.

"Whoah! Since when do mountains have faces!?" Will gasps in alarm.

"Since never!" Taranee screams as a large shadow crossed over the group. The kids and Hector looked up to spy a huge red dragon like creature, with enormous red-orange wings layered under a silver set of spiky wing armor, huge orange claws, bright red horns, yellow-green eyes, sharp teeth, and it's torso covered in silver armor. Flying over them, and toward the huge Stone-Giant.

At that moment a large electric blue centipede like creature with a large red eye, a wide, gaping mouth, and big,long arms with claw like hands burst out of the water of the ocean that lay to the far right of them. It then crawled forward across the ground toward the battle happening between the dragon and the Giant.

"This is a dream. PLEASE, PLEEEEASE someone tell me this is a dream!" Taranee pleaded.

"Naaw. If it was your dream, this would be the part of the dream where Raiden gets all shirtless and swings away with you into the Jungle, all Tarzan style." Irma jokes, but fails to keep up a humorous smile as she saw the two behemoth's duke it out.

"Waaah...I DO NOT HAVE DREAMS LIKE THAT!" Taranee denies vehemently.

"Must you deny your crush NOW!?" Irma shouts at Taranee incredulously. "We're probably gonna die!"

"Irma, your NOT helping!" Gabe wails in a full panic mode.

The giant threw a punch at the giant blue centipede creature, who responded by picking up a boulder, hurling it toward the Giant. Nailing it in the face.

"This is the part of the Dream WHERE YOU RUN!" Hector shouts as he gets behind the kids to push them in a direction.

At that moment, a massive 'something' crashed down behind them, they turned and saw that it was a HUGE shell-casing. As the Dragon was perched on the edge of the mountain cliff behind the group, firing at the two other giants with it's two shoulder Gatling guns, and breathed a stream of fire at the two. Several massive shells came hurtling down toward them and as Hay Lin covered her eyes and screamed, a Cyclone burst out from around her, which diverted the shells to land elsewhere.

"Did..." Hay Lin looks up and noticed the whirling funnel around herself. "Did I do that?"

"Yes, yes, mythical powers, guardians, yadda, yadda," Irma said at a rapid speed. "NOW CAN WE RUN!?"

Everyone did just that. Running as far from the giants as possible, but running through the jungle wasn't much better, what with giant insects and tree limbs nearly smacking into them all. Cornelia and Gabe got knocked flat on their backs by one said tree-branch

"Ugggh! Stupid tress, why can't they just...MOVE!" Cornelia shouts in aggravation.

At that, all the tree's either pulled themselves out of the ground, or moved their limbs upward.

"Okay, that's different..." Cornelia mutters in awe, as Hay Lin, Ray, Will and Irma helped her and Gabe get back to their feet.

"Not so...we ARE in the Nature Civilization." Hector states. "And your being an Earth Guardian would enable you to compel the trees."

"You think I can remember that?" Cornelia asks incredulously. "I'm lucky to remember my own name at the moment!"

They all continued running, Taranee looked pleadingly at Hector, running at hisside.

"Excuse me, Mr. Chavez? I don't want to seem a worrier but...CAN WE GO HOME NOW!?" Taranee screams in alarm, as a giant beetle swooped past her head.

"I'm afraid we can't do that...YET." Hector regretfully tells her, grabbing her hand to help her jump over a fallen log.

"How about now?" Taranee said in a beseeching fashion.

"I used my Gauntlet to open a Breach in the Veil, my Mana hasn't quite recharged yet." He explains.

"Oh, of course." Taranee nods her head in understanding, but obviously NOT understanding.

"You used your WHAT!? To open a What, in the WHAT!?" Ray questioned flabbergasted.

"Look out!" Will shouts in warning.

The group halts as the Stone Giants fist slams into the ground near them, sending them all flying and falling into a heap.

"Who's hand is that?" Cornelia asks in a dry tone. Feeling a hand on her bottom.

"That'd be me." Allie groans, as she pulls her hand away with a groan of disgust.

"Oh great, I'm being attacked by monsters AND getting groped by "Under-fashion-Underhill." Cornelia snarks.

"Well, on the bright side." Irma states with a wry smirk. "Ray and Taranee seem to have hit second base."

Ray quickly pulls off of Taranee, who he'd landed on top of and had his face planted in her chest.

"Ahhh! Ohhh..." Ray flails as he scoots backwards, face all on fire. "S-sorry about that, Taranee..." He tries to look anywhere but at her, as Will helps Taranee up.

"It's...it's okay, Ray." Taranee tells him, thou she fiddles with the one long beaded braid hanging near her face, twisting the hair around her finger, looking flustered.

"Okay, this just went to a PG-13 rating..." Gabe says as he moves Irma off of him.

"Yes, as I said before in the Silver Dragon, I'M READY TO WAKE UP NOW!" Irma screams at Hector.

The Stone Giant pushes himself off the cliff, and moves toward the Water-Centipede to go for another round.

"Can we go NOW!" Taranee pleads with Hector.

"Yeah. I'm a little worried myself." Ray admits.

"You weren't BEFORE!?" Will gawks at Ray.

"Well, the fact Taranee seems relatively composed, yet worried, has me on edge." Ray admits.

"Yeah. I'd have figured she'd go catatonic by now." Irma admits.

"There is NO WAY I am going 'immobile' in THIS place!" Taranee tells them straight up.

"We will all leave Soon" Hector tells them, but whispers to himself. "I hope."

The Stone Giant hurled rocks at the Water Centipede, who dashed at the giant, before leaping onto the Giant. A massive fist punched at it, but missed, hitting the cliff that the group was running on. It crumbled to pieces, and the one BIG piece they were on, was soon sliding down the mountain.

"ANY TIME NOW, MR. CHAVEZ!" Ray yells in panic.

Instantly the older man performed his moves from before...

* * *

The scene then shifts to a street somewhere downtown. More or less empty, not many people out on the street. And it's when there's only a single car going down the road, that the kids and Hector are hurled out of a green portal. The Car swerves to the side, honking its horn to avoid the teens.

They all rushed to the sidewalk, panting and trying to calm their shaking hands, while Hector remained in the road to seal the portal.

"Everyone okay?" Hector asks the eight teens.

"Soo not a dream." Gabe states, crossing his arms. Cornelia gawks at him.

"It took you this long to figure that out?!" She shouts, throwing her arms up.

"Seriously Gabe?" Irma asks, her hands shaking. "I don't label a near death experience as a dream!" Hay Lin and Will are to shaken to speak. Mr. Chavez laughs nervously, Ray and Allie just stare at him will Taranee clings to Hay Lin, both trying to keep from screaming. They all stare at Hector like he's crazy.

"Oh come on, all of your arms and legs are still on." He says, trying to lighten the mood. The eight teens cross their arms and glare at Hector. "I know exactly what you need." He says, tapping his cheek. A few minutes later, the eight friends and Mr. Chavez are sitting at a table are a smoothie place, each holding a sugary drink. "You guys feeling any better?" He asks, glancing at the teens all in turn. Gabe stops sucking and looks at his straw.

"My straw's broken." He says, Will stares at her contents, Hay Lin is hardly paying attention to anything that's going on, her eyes are glazed over and her straw just sits in her mouth. Taranee takes a nervous glace at Ray who's slouching in his seat with his drink in his hand then turns back to her own drink.

"Earth to Ray," Allie says suddenly, ignoring her smoothie. "Are you actually zoning out or in shock?" Ray sits up and looks at her. "Cause I'm in shock!"

"Join the club." Cornelia says, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

"Just kinda... Deja-vuing. Didn't that remind any you of something?" Allie sits down and glares at him.

"Yeah, your sketch book, and about 80 horror movies!" She exclaims, slurping her drink.

"Yeah, talk about mind-blowing creepy." Hay Lin says, coming out of her shock.

"Hey, you. Monster man. How are we supposed to un-see all that, huh? Huh?!" Allie says, glaring at the man.

"Yes, please, a mind washing spell or something?" Irma says sarcastically, earning a glare from Allie and Cornelia.

"You knew how to kind me, and somehow I knew how to that creature before I ever saw it. You need to tell us what's going on here." Ray says.

"I'd rather show you." Hector says, getting nervous looks from all the teens.

The man from before with the long hair stands facing a large window, Alakshmi stands behind him. A machine whirs below the window, the figures are a bit small from this height but for the man, he knew exactly what it was.

"Well?" He asks the woman. She bows to his back as she gives her report.

"I'm sorry, Lord Choten, but a duel master interfered. He reached the children before I did and took them through the veil." Alakshmi says as the Choten turns to face her.

"Interesting. At least the won't be talking. The masters will want to keep them quiet, as well." Alakshmi straightens from her bow, shocked by his interest in the children.

"These youths are beneath your concern, my lord. Helpless babies."

"Shh!" The Choten says, holding up his hand. "Little fish, Alakshmi. It's done, move on." The silver-haired woman bows again then turns and leaves the Choten to his thinking.

The eight friends and Mr. Chavez watch as several young kids practice martial arts for their parents.

"What are we doing here?" Gabe asks, watching the kids as the grunt with every move they make.

"Took the words right outa my mouth Gabe." Irma quips, folding her arms over her chest.

"This is where I work." Hector says, giving the teens a side-long glance.

"You work at a martial-arts studio?" Allie and Cornelia say at once. Taranee cocks her head to the side.

"You don't look the part." She says nonchalantly.

"Given what we just went through, I'd say... Smart career choice." Hay Lin and Will shrug. Hector directs the teens to a room in the back of the studio, where a larger man with a Chinese kimono on and hair in a bun with chop sticks holding it together greets them. Him and Hector bow to each other.

"Master Kimora." Hector greets the man. "I'm taking these young people for a... Private lesson." Master Kimora bows his head and gestures with his hand to go. Hector turns and walks towards a large, very detailed mirror, the teems follow and stand back. Taranee and Ray wind up next to each other and both their faces turn bright red. The mirror is a full, large oval with a miniature roof and two bronze dragons clutch the sides. Hector presses a button beside the mirror and the glass slides to the side, revealing a secret passage.

"Guess you can go through the looking glass." Ray says, mostly to himself but still loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Ray, do I have to remind you what happened the last time we went down some stairs with this guy?" Taranee whispers to him, her voice still a bit shaky.

"He did save our lives." Ray says in Hector's offense.

"And then nearly got us pulverized again." Gabe says "Bandwidth exceeded. It's gonna take me a while to process what we've already been through." Ray gives him a look then turns back to Taranee, despite his redness

"Do you ever get the feeling the answer to something really important is right on the tip of your tongue?" Taranee nods slightly. "Well, I've got that." Ray says, determined. "And I need to do this. And I need you guys with me, all seven of you." All of them looked between each other than back to Ray as he steps towards Hector. Taranee sighs then steps forward.

"What else can they possibly do to freak us out?" She says, standing before Ray, her cheeks flushed. "Might as well see it through, right?" He smiles at her.

"But if we don't like it, we are bolting!" Allie says coming up behind Taranee, making Ray jump a little. Gabe starts scratching the back of his head as the other girls step up.

"I have arranged a time-delayed e-mail to our parents and my lawyer detailing our whereabouts. So if I don't report back in time-"

"Gabriel, if I wanted to cause you harm, I would have left you in the Kaiju realm." Hector says, walking towards the secret passage.

"So Mr. Chavez-" Ray asks tentatively as the eight friends plus Hector walk down the stair well.

"Master Chavez actually." Master Chavez says, correcting him.

"You mentioned Kaiju. And your martial art is called?" Ray asks, Hay Lin and Will get a confused look on their faces, Cornelia is glaring at Allie but looks to Master Chavez, wanting to hear the answer.

"Kaijudo." Chavez answers simply.

"What's Kaiju?" Allie and Cornelia ask at the same time again, they both glower at each other.

"Japanese word for 'Monster'." Gabe says matter-of-factly "How can you like anime and not know that?" Both blondes glare at him.

"Actually, "Kaiju' is translation to strange beast'." Ray clarifies "So doing Kaijudo means you practice the way of the strange beast."

"Well that makes a lot of sense." Irma says sarcastically.

"So you battle using those beasts?" Will asks, referring to the beasts they saw in the Kaiju realm as they come to an open room with star like things hanging from the ceiling, only they weren't hanging, they were flying and glowing like light bulbs.

"It's called dueling, we just call them 'Creatures'." Chavez answers.

"So, it's safe to assume we're there?" Hay Lin asks when Chavez stops at the top of more stairs.

"Oh, we are there." Chavez says, grinning at the teens. "Welcome to the temple of the Kaijudo Duel Masters." He says, gesturing to the vast open tunnel ahead full of the star-like creatures and large stone pillars as far as the eye can see. The eight teens stare and gawk at the scene before them, to shocked to speak.

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


End file.
